The wave of new London bike shops

I suppose this is relevant...LMNH gets a mention, Bar Italia, Rapha, cake...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/may/26/cyclists-coffe-shops

http://single-speed.co.uk/

Whats this one then?!?! Foffa rival.

Is that the Angelfire bloke?

https://www.lfgss.com/thread4827.html

Ha - Hacked2.

Reaches for the popcorn.

Hacked2=Foffa?

ex foffa employee, I believe.

Anyway, I've done my bit. I really couldn't give a shit about either of them.

Ah right. Same old crap then. Move on.

Brought my bird's bike to Micycle earlier to put the finishing touches on it. Very friendly and personable bunch. Wish them all the best with their venture, they deserve it

Yet another:

Love Bikes
137 Church Walk
N16 8QW

Proprietor: Philip 07841 421905

repairs/maintenance/second hand sales

I haven't been there yet, so thanks to Tony Harms for the report.

Bikes n Juice.
http://cyclelab.co.uk/

I'm obviously partial to Hackney, but here's yet another one:

beauvelo?? New inn yard, bike fitting just opened up opposite my work place. http://www.lebeauvelo.co.uk/

(First I've heard of it, so I haven't been.)

Hot on the heels of Le Beau Vélo, Bon Vélo in Herne Hill is due to open soon:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread48256.html

Yet another:

I haven't been there yet, so thanks to Tony Harms for the report.

its right round the corner from my house, when i get a chance i will pop in and see how it is.

also +1 for Push who are extremely nice to me.

Anyone see this in the Guardian this morning?

http://www.racerrosabicycles.co.uk/

Nice looking frames £500 for a custom(ish) Columbus Thron frame.

Whats a BJ nowadays - £375?

How does Reynolds 631 stackup against Thron and is it really worth the extra?

This suggests Columbus Thron is equivalent to 531 in terms of weight, strength and stiffness http://www.m-gineering.nl/buizeng.htm

But I'm undecided about 631, which these days you can get on low end frames like IRO etc. Never ridden it so I don't know what it's actually like, but it surely can't be that good if you can get it on such cheap frames...

I reckon OTP BJ's are around 400 - personally I'd be keener to spend an extra 100 or so with these guys and get something made to measure (as opposed to fully custom) and not made in Taiwan.

^ so its prolly comparable to a BJ, but you're just paying £100 extra to be able to spec the size exactly as you want?

The only thing that seems a bit cheap, is that its powder coated, rather than stove enamal. Other than that it seems fairly priced. Altho their carbon fork options seem a bit steep.

Sound a bit dubious really, the measurment they've offer is probably normal OTP sized frame, just made it sound like it's 'custom' by selecting a frame size that'll fit you according to your height, arm length, and legs.

^ I wondered about that, but in terms of stock control that's going to be quite draining on your cash flow.

Just using their standard selection there are 12 different frames and thats without taking ahead/quill into account.

I guess it depends what you're after but that's probably a fair assessment.

Powdercoating is cheap but you could always get one unpainted and then send it off to Mercian or someone. And their carbon forks do look dear, but again you have the option of sourcing your own. Carbon forks go on ebay for a lot less than these guys want.

This site has technical info on tubing
http://www.strongframes.com/more_stuff/materials_tech/

And more tubing talk here http://www.lfgss.com/thread1450.html

BJs are £380 delivered.

Surely it's only comparable if geo, welding, build, paint etc. are the same?

I like my 631 and I've had some compliments from respected peoples.

The BJ Vigorelli is a lovely frame that ride well, it already have a reputation.

the Lombardi however, I has no idea if it's any good, and would be dubious to spend money on them.

ah shucks.. just when I convinced myself to go order a La Piovra Pista frame from BLB here comes another option.

The BJ Vigorelli is a lovely frame that ride well, it already have a reputation.

This.

Fair comments, but if people only bought frames with a good rep then new guys would never be able to get involved. I think they look dear, but good on them for trying to source green components and offer an alternative to mass produced manufacturing.

And they look handsome.

Fair comments, but if people only bought frames with a good rep then new guys would never be able to get involved.

Thing is, I've only just heard of this shop, I've not heard of Lombardi, so it's diffcuilt to go and spend that much money on a shop that just appear.

A good example would be Feather Cycles who slowly build his reputation by building bicycles for friends, friends spread words, more people got interested, more bike got bike (abiet experimenting), and now he's pretty known enough to the point that he make decent frame.

Looking at the Racer Rosa website doesn't really inspired confident from the get go.